County may ease fountain limits

Thursday, Nov. 20, 2003 | 11:07 a.m.

Clark County could be opening the door a tiny bit toward allowing some businesses to keep their water fountains flowing during this time of drought-related restrictions.

Representatives of the Marbeya Business Park on Sahara Avenue in Spring Valley asked for an exemption from the new rules, which ban most fountains and other water features, using an as-yet untested argument: Instead of using Lake Mead water delivered by the Las Vegas Valley, the fountains at the business park would use water delivered from another state or the ocean, or would use some other liquid altogether.

The representatives took that argument to the Clark County Commission seeking an exemption Wednesday.

Although the commission decided to hold off on the making a decision on the request and two similar requests until Dec. 17, at least two commissioners -- Mary Kincaid-Chauncey and Yvonne Atkinson Gates -- indicated that they are sympathetic to the argument.

Paul Larsen, a land-use attorney representing the park, said trucking the water in from elsewhere would be possible.

County staff members, who have resisted efforts to grant exemptions, recoiled from the proposal.

"Enforcement would be a nightmare," said Barbara Ginoulias, the county's current planning chief. "How do you verify the water is from Utah or Oregon?"

Larsen said proving that the water in the fountains at the business park came from outside of Southern Nevada would not be easy.

"I realize that would be our burden," he said.

The drought restrictions on fountains are designed to be temporary and save a "very minimal" amount of water, said Southern Nevada Water Authority spokesman Vince Alberta. But the reason they are in place is also why an exemption would be a bad idea, he said.

"It's more than anything a perception issue," he said. "Residents are willing to do their part if they see the business community is doing its part.

"If they see fountains running, they aren't going to know where the water is coming from. They'll just know that they don't have to conserve."

Commissioner Myrna Williams, who also serves on the boards of the water district and the water authority, said granting an exemption would undermine the regional effort to conserve water.

"If you allow an exemption than everyone is going to seek an exemption," she said.

Carolyn Kuehn, the business park's property manager, said the water system at the Marbeya property cannot readily take advantage of the main exception to the rule passed by the county and other regional governments. The rules allow fountains to run from 1 a.m. to 4 p.m. in order to keep pumps and machinery working.

The business park's water features, however, are terraced. Turning off the system for even a few minutes would mean all the water would drain.

The county commissioners recently denied a similar request from a condominium complex.